While the rest of the nation weeps, staring at the smoldering ruins of March Madness brackets, Buffett smiles the smile of the wise man - the Cheshire cat with the biggest billfold.

You see, Buffett sold us all a dream this year. As the NCAA's annual festival of college basketball approached, America's favorite financier offered $1 billion to anyone who could produce a perfect prognostication. One billion dollars to anyone who could correctly predict every game of the NCAA college basketball tournament.

It was a brilliant marketing move, fostering irrational hope and shifting untold millions of eyeballs to the Web site of Quicken Loans, a Detroit finance firm with which Buffett partnered on this endeavor, along with Yahoo Sports. It's been a water cooler winner for weeks, spurring everyone to speculate on what they'd do with all that money. Even PresidentObama weighed in. "I'm sure somebody would ask me to pay down more of the federal debt," said Obama, an avid college basketball fan. "Michelle might want a few shoes."

Meanwhile, Buffett slept easy. The chances of anyone cashing in were 9.2 quintillion to 1. If that doesn't impress you, look at this way: 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. In a tournament that started Thursday, for all intents and purposes, only 16 perfect brackets remained by Friday afternoon. By Friday evening, that number dropped to three and then to zero.

It couldn't have gone any better for Buffett and his partners. Millions signed up, boosting traffic and visibility to the sponsor websites. And then the tournament provided shocker upon shocker, proving once more that the NCAA tourney is the most unpredictable sporting event known to mankind.

Personally, my predictions were perfect: The NCAA bracket is my annual opportunity for public humiliation and embarrassment. Spot on.

My bracket is in shambles, proving once more that I am the Chicago Cubs of March Madness.

Last week, in this very space, I lamented my tendency to pick Ohio State to go deep, for sentimental, personal reasons. I did so again, picking the Buckeyes to go as far as the Elite Eight. They lost in their first game, to Dayton.

I fell for the star power of Duke freshman Jabari Parker, picking the Blue Devils to make it all the way to the Final Four, riding his vast potential. They lost in their first game to Mercer, a school I couldn't find on the map if you offered me a billion dollars.

I actually picked three upsets in the second round, predicting wins for No. 12 seeds Stephen F. Austin, Harvard and North Dakota State. It didn't matter. My bracket stands mired in the middle of a pool populated by my closest pals and peers. My son is doing better than me ... again. It all makes for great mirth, considering my profession. If asked, I'm sure the Seattle Seahawks' vociferous cornerback, Richard Sherman, would view my effort as "mediocre." And I wouldn't disagree.

Switching from lousy bracketologist to inquiring journalist, let's take a look at some of the trends on display in this year's NCAA Tournament.

-- Experience trumps potential: Mercer's win over Duke showed why a group of experienced college players, most of whom might hope to play in Greece after graduation, can still overcome the best talent in the country. Duke showed it was not up to the task in the closing moments of a tight game. Mercer showed poise, timing and perseverance. In other words, diaper dandies are about as relevant as Dick Vitalein 2014. Where have you gone Carmelo Anthony?

-- The 14 over 3 upset is the new 12 over 5: When Mercer topped Duke, it was a shock. A No. 14 seed had knocked off a No. 3, a fairly rare occurrence historically that still instills shock and awe. Just under 97 percent of ESPN brackets lost that game and 21 percent of brackets filed with that site lost a Final Four team. The No. 12 seed beating the No. 5 - a formerly high-profile event - happened in three of the four regions this year. It's almost expected, which explains why I succeeded in predicting those.

-- Never trust Ohio State: Not to belabor the point, but the Buckeyes specialize in football. They tantalize in basketball. Me to self: "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. ... Dumb. ... "

-- Duke still wins: Even in a year when Duke loses a first-game embarrassment, alumni coaches Tommy Amaker(Harvard) and Johnny Dawkins(Stanford) pulled off first-game upsets, proving that Coach K never really loses. With the win over New Mexico, Dawkins may well have saved his job. After five years on the job, folks on The Farm are anxious for results. Amaker, meanwhile, is shining in the tournament for the second year running. Did Stanford hire the wrong Duke guy? This tourney could tell.

-- Don't bet against Creighton: Billionaire Buffett, "The Oracle of Omaha," is firmly on the Creighton bandwagon, driven by senior forward Doug McDermott. The man who built his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, into a global investment powerhouse likes the Omaha school, and he's been open about it, mooning around games wearing Creighton stickers all over his face. I suppose the man can do what he wants. He could buy Creighton.